‘Let me up,’ I said. ‘And I’ll show you.’

He backed off me, letting my thighs drop apart again. For a moment, I thought he was going to launch himself onto me, but he didn’t. Instead, he pulled me up and towards him. The skirt of my dress was up around the tops of my thighs and, in one fluid movement, he hooked his fingers into it, pulling it up around my hips and slamming me against his crotch.

As he lifted his hands from my hips to pull me in for a kiss, I took my chance and rammed my knee up between his legs as hard as I could.

‘Aaargh.’ He gave a loud cry, which tapered out as he sunk to his knees. ‘You crazy bitch,’ he muttered, glaring up first at me, then at the ceiling.

That was when I realised. He hadn’t shouted – not once. Usually, he’d storm and yell when he got mad, but not this time…

‘Liv!’ I yelled, with all the strength of my lungs. ‘Liv!’

    Two

Her

There was a dead silence for a few moments, but for Leo’s moans of pain, then the sound of someone treading heavily and unsteadily across creaking floorboards. ‘Grace?’

‘Liv!’

I flew to the door of the lounge, flinging it open and rushing through it. ‘Oh, thank God!’

Leo was still uttering guttural groans from the living room floor, but I knew he could rise again at any moment, and launch another attack on me. I slammed the door behind me and rushed through the hall, to the front door. I stayed there, my back against it, ready to run out if he came after me.

As I stood there, Liv came racing down the stairs, two at a time. ‘What the hell’s the matter?’ Her hair was sticking up all over, and she looked wild-eyed. ‘Babe, what’s wrong?’

‘Leo,’ I said, and felt the tears coming to my eyes. What the hell had happened to him? To us? How had we ended up like this? I motioned towards the lounge. ‘In there.’

‘Get upstairs.’ Liv’s face looked small and pinched with anger. ‘Go. Now.’

I hesitated, not wanting to leave her there alone with him in that mood, but she took my arm and pushed me towards the stairs. ‘Go, Grace.’

I started to climb the stairs, holding the cold wood of the bannister for reassurance. Liv marched to the door of the lounge and threw it open. ‘You,’ she said. ‘Out.’

I sank onto the stairs, peering through the balustrades to check Liv was okay.

Leo must have said something, but it was too low for me to hear.

‘I don’t give a toss,’ she said, standing aside with her arm outstretched. It was a clear indication that she wanted him to leave, but it seemed like he was in no hurry to go. ‘Out now, or I call the police.’

Finally, there was movement from inside the lounge, together with a harsh, splintering crash. It sounded like he’d pushed the coffee table into the mantelpiece. I winced inwardly. There was a low murmur.

‘Forget it,’ said Liv. ‘Just don’t drink so fucking much. It’s embarrassing.’

As she said it, Leo emerged from the lounge. He was holding onto the wall, as he lurched towards the front door. Liv was at his rear. She threw me a quick glance as she followed him. ‘Get ready for bed, Grace,’ she said.

Leo didn’t look back but, as he went out the door, he yelled over his shoulder; ‘This isn’t over, Gra…’

Liv slammed the door before he’d even finished, and reached up to put the bolt on.

‘For fuck’s sake, Grace,’ she said, looking up at me and blowing her forehead. ‘You don’t half pick 'em.’

I was still apologising when I was sitting in bed, my arms around my knees, telling her what had happened. I didn’t mention what had happened on the sofa. It would have made it too real, and I just wanted to block it out.

Liv sat on the edge of the bed, patting my leg comfortingly. ‘You should call the police,’ she said. ‘Or I should.’

‘Don’t,’ I said, grabbing her hand in my urgency. ‘Don’t call the police. You’ll ruin him. He’s in enough trouble already.’

‘But Grace,’ she said. ‘He must’ve got in round the back when I was putting the bins out, which means he was skulking in the garden. He was probably watching me through the window.’ She shuddered visibly. ‘Better I ruin him than he ruins you.’

‘No,’ I said. ‘Please. He was just drunk.’

‘Well,’ she stood up. ‘I’ll take your word for it, but I don’t like it.’

‘I know,’ I said. ‘I’m sorry.’

She went to walk out of the bedroom but, as she got to the door, she paused and turned back to me. ‘So how did it go tonight? Anything exciting happen?’

I opened my mouth to tell her about Mr Arrogant but, at the last moment, I changed my mind. He was just as much of an asshole as Leo, in his way. The Filth Monger. I flushed as I remembered the mortification of seeing it written on the business card. It showed just what he thought of me – not that I could blame him, but even so... ‘It was okay,’ I said, with a shrug.

‘Anything…you know…happen?’ She raised her eyebrows and gave me a stern look.

I shook my head. ‘Nothing exciting,’ I said, wriggling down under the covers.

‘And did Kitty keep an eye on you?’

‘Uh-huh.’ I gave a brief, non-committal nod and went to turn over.

‘Good.’ Liv turned out the light. ‘Night Grace. Get some sleep.’

‘Night, Liv,’ I said.

‘And no more dickheads, okay? One’s enough.’

‘Mm-mm.’ I turned over and snuggled down into the warm safety of the duvet.

As I lay there, in the still darkness of the bedroom, listening to her moving around in the bathroom, I realised that it was just as well I hadn’t told her about the so-called Filth Monger. She’d have freaked. Especially if she’d questioned me further because, despite everything, I’d have had to admit that, even now, I was horribly attracted to his smug, arrogant ass.

    Three

Him

My mind was still on Grace, as I drove back from Chiswick. I wondered what the hell she was going to make of my card. I was such a tool. I didn’t seem to be able to get anything right. I parked the Aston outside the hotel, leaving the doormen to move it to its personal space, and decided to stop into Dominion before I headed upstairs to bed. I needed to see Alex, and he was holding court in my absence, which was pretty much all the time, these days. Even though I lived in the penthouse suite of the Dominion hotel itself, I’d rarely been able to muster the enthusiasm to show my face there for more than a few minutes at a time, recently.

To be honest, I was tired of being the go-to Dom for everyone else’s problems, and the whole Charlottegate affair had made me re-think the whole club. I got no pleasure from it, anymore. The only subs I’d ever cared about – all two of them – had thrown my care and attention back in my face, and even the ones I hadn’t, had fucked me over. Part of me hoped I’d never see Charlotte again, but I knew I had no choice. I had to find her, and fast.

I waved briefly at the receptionists as I went through the foyer. They earned their money a thousand times over, keeping undesirables out of the club, but even they made mistakes sometimes, and I was beginning to think it just wasn’t worth the risk to keep it open. It was only in deference to the old man that I’d run it this long. He’d started it way back, and even in his decrepit state, he still asked about it every time I visited him.

It occurred to me suddenly that Max might consider taking it on. Christ, he’d relish the chance. I couldn’t see him making good in the role, though. He was too harsh…too unforgiving. He’d always be a fag master at heart, as if that hadn’t landed him in enough trouble over the years.

I keyed in the private code that would take the lift straight down to the club. I wasn’t fucking about walking round the back of the place. As it sank down into the bowels of the hotel, I thought of Grace again. If she were by my side, attached to me surreptitiously by a cuff or a leash, I’d probably be enjoying this visit. As it was, it just depressed me.